‘Arrow’ Stephen Amell In Emmy Magazine

"On how ‘Arrow’ transformed him. “It was diet first,” Amell reveals of the physical preparation he embarked upon to play Oliver Queen / Arrow. “I went gluten and dairy free, then I got into fight training. It was like ‘Wax on, Wax off’ stuff. Then I did a bunch of Parkour, weight training and fight choreography for the pilot. After I got over that initial hump of being hungry for four days, I was fine.”

This role marks a significant departure from the past parts Amell had been playing. Namely, bad guys. “As fun as it is to play a villain, eventually is starts to weigh on you a little bit, so playing a hero is going to be really cool,” Amell told ‘The Inside’.